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☆ Israel's judicial proposals prompt startups to relocate -govt agency
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, May 1 (Reuters) - The government's plan to overhaul the judicial system is harming investor confidence and pushing high-tech firms to relocate abroad, Israel's state-backed agency that supports high-tech companies said on Monday. Israel's high-tech sector employs 10% of the country's workforce accounting for around 15% of economic output, more than half of exports and a quarter of tax income. While the Nasdaq is up 17% this year, Israel's tech index is down 4%. It added that high-tech fundraising in the first quarter was just $1.7 billion, the lowest quarterly figure since 2019. The authority recommended a number of steps such as easing regulations, incentives to encourage investment and incentives for startups to register intellectual property in Israel.

☆ Exclusive: EU to push for its debt to be included in government bond indexes- official
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Yoruk Bahceli | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Index inclusion "is something we are discussing with market participants at the moment, while we are also doing our internal analysis," the official said, looking at how the EU fulfills index providers' criteria. EU bonds are included in broad bond indexes but inclusion in dedicated government bond indexes compiled by the likes of Bloomberg, JPMorgan or FTSE Russell would be a game changer, as trillions of dollars of investor funds tracking the indexes would effectively become forced buyers. Big investors are also calling for index providers to treat the EU as a government. The EU official noted the bloc has elements of a sovereign, such as a budget and at least indirect taxing powers through member states' contributions. Cosimo Marasciulo, head of fixed income absolute return at Europe's largest asset manager Amundi, said it was also calling for EU inclusion in government bond indexes.

☆ Insurer Humana lifts profit view as medical costs drop in govt plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 26 (Reuters) - Humana Inc (HUM.N) raised its annual adjusted profit forecast on Wednesday after lower medical costs in the firm's government-backed health insurance business helped it beat profit estimates for the first quarter. That has driven increased investor scrutiny into whether one-time items are helping lower medical costs artificially, hurting shares of rivals UnitedHealth (UNH.N) and Elevance (ELV.N) earlier this month despite both beating profit estimates. Medicare Advantage is its main business of government-backed health insurance for the elderly or those with certain disabilities. The impact of its exit from the commercial business was not included in adjusted figures for the quarter, Humana said. Its adjusted profit came in at $9.38 per share, beating estimates of $9.27.

The country's IPCA-15 inflation index eased to a 30-month low of 4.16% from 5.36% in the previous month, government statistics agency IBGE said on Wednesday, coming in below market consensus of 4.20% in a Reuters poll of economists. The latest data comes a day after central bank Governor Roberto Campos Neto ruled out an imminent interest rate cut, saying in a Senate hearing that the current rate was appropriate to address inflation concerns. "Will RCN and his team wait for current inflation to reach 3% before starting to cut interest rates?" William Jackson, Capital Economics' chief emerging markets economist, said he doubts policymakers will pivot to interest rate cuts imminently, considering that core inflation remains strong and the central bank has been striking a hawkish tone. "All told, the inflation picture continues to improve in Brazil," Pantheon Macroeconomics' chief Latin America economist Andres Abadia said.

☆ The upcoming North Carolina gubernatorial election could be another flashpoint in the nation's sharply divided politics
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

North Carolina GOP Lt. Gov. The 2024 gubernatorial race could feature two major forces in North Carolina government — Democratic state Attorney General Josh Stein and Republican Lt. Gov. "I'm running for governor because we the people of North Carolina need someone who understands us," he told his supporters. Roy Cooper has been an institution in North Carolina Democratic politics. North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell is already in the race, and former Rep. Mark Walker is expected to enter the contest soon.

☆ Exclusive: German govt to slightly raise 2023 GDP forecast - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Holger Hansen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, April 20 (Reuters) - The German government is set to slightly raise its economic growth forecast for this year to 0.4% from its previously predicted 0.2%, two sources told Reuters on Thursday. For 2024, the government will slightly lower its prediction, to 1.6% from the 1.8% foreseen in January, the sources said. An Economy Ministry spokesperson did not comment and said Economy Minister Robert Habeck would present the spring economic projections next Wednesday. With the new projections, the government is slightly more optimistic than the five economic institutes that prepare the Joint Economic Forecasts, which foresee 2023 economic growth of 0.3%. In the Joint Economic Forecasts, which are incorporated into the ministry's forecasts, the institutes predict inflation of 6.0% in 2023, before slowing to 2.4% in 2024.

☆ Canada offering more than C$13 bln for VW battery plant - govt source
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies Volkswagen AG FollowOTTAWA, April 20 (Reuters) - Canada has agreed to provide up to C$13 billion ($9.7 billion) in subsidies and a C$700 million grant to lure Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) into building its North American battery plant in the country, a government source said on Thursday. The carmaker declined to comment on the subsidies, which the source said would be disbursed over a decade. The plant will cost about C$7 billion to build, the source told Reuters, confirming an earlier report by Bloomberg News. The new Volkswagen battery plant in Canada will have a maximum capacity of 90 gigawatt hours, enough to provide batteries for more than a million cars annually, Handelsblatt reported, citing a company source familiar with the matter. PowerCo, set up last year, is targeting more than 20 billion euros ($21.94 billion) in annual sales by 2030.

Berlin's ruling coalition last month agreed that almost all newly installed heating systems in Germany should run on 65% renewable energy from 2024, both in new and old buildings. Houses could also use heat pumps that run on renewable electricity, district heating, electric heating or solar thermal systems as acceptable alternatives to fossil fuel heating, according to the bill, which was seen by Reuters. Such a shift could cost Germans around 9.16 billion euros ($10 billion) annually until 2028, the draft bill showed. Germany's push to phase out gas in heating became more urgent after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine prompted Berlin to halt Russian fossil fuel imports. Heating uses up more than 40% of Germany's annual gas consumption as almost half of the country's 41 million households heat with natural gas while almost 25% use heating oil.

[1/4] A view of a computer-rendered image of Climeworks' Mammoth direct air capture plant is seen in this undated handout picture obtained by Reuters, June 28, 2022. Leading the charge, the U.S. government has offered $3.5 billion in grants to build the factories that will capture and permanently store the gas - the largest such effort globally to help halt climate change through Direct Air Capture (DAC) and expanded a tax credit to $180/tonne to bolster the burgeoning technology. The sums involved dwarf funding available in other regions, such as Britain which has pledged up to 100 million pounds ($124 million) for DAC research and development. That compares with $12 billion in federal spending to drive demand for personal and commercial electric vehicles, Boston Consulting Group estimated. Occidental Petroleum has said it is well positioned for federal grants for what could be the biggest Direct Air Capture plants in the world.

☆ Angry Tesla Shanghai workers vent to Elon Musk over bonus cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/3] Tesla China-made Model 3 vehicles are seen during a delivery event at its factory in Shanghai, China January 7, 2020. The situation marks a rare outburst of discontent at Tesla's Shanghai plant, whose workers Musk praised last year for burning "the 3 a.m. oil" to keep operations running during the city's two-month COVID lockdown. Some took to Twitter, owned by Musk and blocked in China, to tweet to the billionaire, his mother Maye Musk, and Tesla. "Please pay attention to the performance (bonus) of frontline workers at Tesla's Shanghai factory being arbitrarily deducted," said a person with the handle @AFeiywu on Twitter in a tweet directed at Elon Musk and Tesla's Asia unit. She recently completed a two-week tour in the country during which she visited the Shanghai factory and promoted her memoir.

☆ Tesla Shanghai factory workers appeal to Elon Musk on bonus cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Tesla China-made Model 3 vehicles are seen during a delivery event at its factory in Shanghai, China January 7, 2020. "Please pay attention to the performance (bonus) of frontline workers at Tesla's Shanghai factory being arbitrarily deducted," said a person with the handle @AFeiywu on Twitter in a tweet directed at Elon Musk and Tesla's Asia unit. The workers said Tesla supervisors mentioned a "safety incident" when they were asked about reasons for the bonus cut. Several online posts claimed workers at the Shanghai plant were being unfairly punished for an incident this year at the factory where one worker died in February. According to a report published by the local Pudong government on April 12, there was a mechanical accident in the welding workshop at Tesla's Shanghai plant on Feb. 4 that killed one worker.

☆ Factbox: Italy's govt nominees for top jobs at Enel, Eni, Terna
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Their appointments will need to be approved by investors at meetings scheduled for May 9 for Terna, and May 10 for both Enel and Eni. ENEL (ENEI.MI)Flavio Cattaneo, 59, is an experienced manager and entrepreneur who will leave his role as vice president of high-speed train operator Italo to succeed current Enel CEO Francesco Starace. Becoming Enel chairman would be for him a return to the utility where he served as CEO between 2002 and 2005. Scaroni also served as chief executive of energy group Eni between 2005 and 2014. ENI (ENI.MI)The Treasury proposed CEO Claudio Descalzi for a fourth term and picked Giuseppe Zafarana, 59, as chairman for the energy group.

☆ Dalai Lama 'unfairly labelled' over tongue video - Tibet govt-in-exile
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Rupam Jain | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Patron of Children in Crossfire, speaks during a press conference in Londonderry, Northern Ireland September 11, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File PhotoNEW DELHI, April 13 (Reuters) - The head of Tibet's government-in-exile on Thursday defended the Dalai Lama over footage of him asking a boy to suck his tongue, saying the incident had demonstrated the country's spiritual leader's innocent and affectionate side. Penpa Tsering, the Sikyong (political leader) of the exiled Central Tibetan Administration, said the Dalai Lama had been "unfairly labelled with all kinds of names that really hurt the sentiment of all his followers". The video clip, filmed in February and circulated this month, has been viewed over one million times on Twitter. The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet.

☆ Analysis: Italian first! Meloni's nationalists defend cultural identity at risk of irking EU
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Angelo Amante | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] General view of the Colosseum next to a subway's construction sites in Rome, Italy, February 16, 2023. Almost six months after taking office, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government is pushing out bills that promise to promote national identity, defend the traditional family, protect cultural heritage and hold back migrants. Recent proposals include a bill to safeguard the Italian language and a ban on lab-grown food. "Italian mines are made up of culture, gastronomy, language, arts, fashion, history, archaeology and monuments. "Identity messages are meant to tell the electorate that Brothers of Italy will not give up its line," analyst Panarari said.

☆ Elon Musk says Twitter is using a Wikipedia list to help decide which news organizations are labeled 'government-funded media'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk says Twitter is relying on Wikipedia to help decide which news outlets to label "government-funded media." It recently labeled NPR "state-affiliated media," a move Musk later said might have been wrong, before changing it to "government-funded media." Elon Musk told as much to NPR reporter Bobby Allyn, and Twitter's Help Center page about government and state-affiliated media labels confirmed the policy. Twitter recently slapped a "state-affiliated media" label on NPR's Twitter account. Musk reportedly later admitted adding the "state-affiliated media" label to NPR's account might have been a mistake.

☆ Elon Musk says Warren Buffett should run the US Treasury - and the investor could do the job in under 1 hour per week
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk would prefer Warren Buffett to be US Treasury secretary instead of Janet Yellen. The Tesla chief said the Berkshire Hathaway boss could do the job in less than 1 hour per week. "Probably Buffett," Musk tweeted. "Any highly successful investor with a long track record would do a good job – the job is essentially fund management at scale," he added. As for Buffett, he's questioned Musk's Twitter habit in the past, and jokingly challenged the auto executive to take on Berkshire in the candy business.

☆ Indian court seeks govt response on comedian's challenge to IT rule changes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW DELHI, April 11 (Reuters) - An Indian court on Tuesday directed the government to respond to an appeal submitted by a comedian challenging recent changes to the country's IT rules, which prevent social media platforms from hosting information that the government terms "fake". The rules dictate that social media platforms "make reasonable efforts" to not "publish, share or host" any information relating to the government that is identified as "fake, false or misleading" by a government appointed fact-checking unit. The Bombay High Court, hearing a petition filed by comedian Kunal Kamra, asked the government to file a reply on the plea and scheduled the next hearing for April 21. In his petition, Kamra said that the amendments "constitute unreasonable restrictions to freedom of speech and expression". Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been in repeated tussles with various social media platforms when they failed to take down certain content or accounts that it accused of spreading misinformation.

[1/3] New Governor of Bank of Japan Kazuo Ueda waits for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida before their meeting at prime minister?s official residence in Tokyo, Japan, April 10, 2023. "Given high economic uncertainty, the BOJ will communicate closely with the government and guide monetary policy flexibly," Ueda told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to receive his official appointment letter. In parliamentary confirmation hearings in February, Ueda has stressed the need to keep ultra-easy policy to ensure Japan sustainably achieves the BOJ's 2% inflation target backed by wage growth. Ueda will chair his first policy meeting on April 27-28, when the board produces fresh quarterly growth and price forecasts extending through fiscal 2025. Ueda served as BOJ board member from 1998 to 2005, during which the central bank introduced zero interest rates and then quantitative easing to combat deflation and economic stagnation.

☆ Elon Musk reportedly admits Twitter may have been wrong to label NPR as 'state-affiliated media'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Britney Nguyen | Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Twitter added a "US state-affiliated media" label to NPR's account on Tuesday. NPR reported Thursday that Elon Musk told the outlet the tag might be an error after learning more about the outlet. The mention of the BBC, which did not see the label added to its accounts, remains on the page. A screenshot of NPR's Twitter profile on Wednesday shows a label reading "US state-affiliated media." Twitter/@NPR"We were disturbed to see last night that Twitter has labeled NPR as 'state-affiliated media,' a description that, per Twitter's own guidelines, does not apply to NPR," NPR President and CEO John Lansing said in a statement shared with Insider.

☆ An indicator with a 94% accuracy rate says stocks will finish 2023 positive, according to $1 trillion LPL. Here's their top pick for where to put your money right now — and 5 other areas of the market
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( William Edwards | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The December Low Indicator just signaled stocks should finish 2023 in the green. The indicator also shows the S&P 500 could return well above 10% this year. A stock-market signal with a 94% accuracy rate just delivered good news: there's a high chance stocks finish positive in 2023. The S&P 500 returned more than 7% in the first quarter, so it's well on its way to a double-digit year." The Vanguard Industrials ETF (VIS) and the iShares S&P 500 Value ETF (IVE) offer exposure to the above areas of the market.

While factory output rebounded in February, some analysts warn of mounting downside risks as slumping global demand for technology goods hits the country's exports. Inflation will probably stay elevated at least during the first half of this year," said Yoshiki Shike, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute. Separately, factory output rose 4.5% in February from January, better than a forecast 2.7% gain and rebounding from a revised 5.3% drop in January, on easing supply bottlenecks for carmakers. "There's a bigger risk of a downgrade in manufacturers' output plans due to weaknesses in the information-technology (IT) sector. Global demand is shifting away from goods towards services, which is bad news for Japan's export-reliant economy," Shinke of Dai-ichi Life Research said.

The data underscores the challenge incoming Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda faces in assessing whether the recent cost-driven inflation will shift to one backed by solid demand and wage growth. The pace of increase slowed from a 3.3% gain in February and a nearly 42-year high of 4.3% hit in January, due largely to the effect of government subsidies to curb utility bills. In a glimmer of hope, factory output rose 4.5% in February from the previous month, government data showed on Friday, more than a median market forecast for a 2.7% gain. Manufacturers surveyed by the government expect to increase output by 2.3% in March and by 4.4% in April, the output data showed. Reporting by Takahiko Wada and Leika Kihara; Editing by Sam Holmes and Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Australia govt introduces Indigenous referendum bill in parliament
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Renju Jose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Introducing the bill in parliament, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the referendum, to be held between October and December, would be an opportunity to acknowledge history and help Australians come together "for a more reconciled future." The main opposition Liberal party has not yet decided if it would support the proposed constitutional amendments but its junior coalition partner, the rural-based National Party, has said it would oppose them. A Guardian poll last week showed public support for the referendum was down 5% but was still backed by a majority, with 59% in favour. Any constitutional alterations in Australia require a national referendum. To succeed a referendum requires a national majority of votes as well as a majority of votes in at least four of the six states.

☆ India's April-September borrowing slightly above market expectations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Nikunj Ohri | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The planned April-September borrowing constitutes about 57.6% of the total 15.43 trillion rupees planned for the current fiscal year, the government said in a statement on Wednesday. Borrowing in the first six months is slightly above market expectations of about 55% of this year's target. The government said the borrowing will be done through bonds of three, five, seven, 10, 14, 30 and 40 years tenure. It plans to borrow between 310 billion and 390 billion rupees a week in the first half of the fiscal year. The government plans net borrowing of 1.42 trillion rupees in the quarter ending June 30, compared with 2.40 trillion rupees in the same period last year.

☆ Twitter blocks Pakistan govt's account for viewing in India - notice
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

March 30 (Reuters) - Twitter has blocked the Pakistan government's account from being viewed in India in response to a legal demand, according to a notice on the social media platform on Thursday. The company's guidelines compel it to withhold entire accounts in response to a valid legal demand, such as a court order. The account, @GovtofPakistan, remained available for viewing and interaction from countries such as the United States and Canada, Reuters checks showed. Twitter as well as India and Pakistan's IT ministries did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika SyamnathOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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